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Lenny Lane
| birth_place = Duluth, Minnesota | death_date = | death_place = | resides = | billed = Minneapolis, Minnesota West Hollywood, California | trainer = Eddie Sharkey | debut = January 28, 1995 | retired = }} Leonard Carlson is an American wrestler best known for a length run in WCW as Lenny Lane where he briefly held the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship. Professional Wrestling Career Training Carlson trained at Eddie Sharkey's famous Minnesota-based wrestling school Pro Wrestling USA for about two years before he graduated and was signed by World Championship Wrestling. World Championship Wrestling Jobber Years (1997-1999) Carlson's debut in WCW came on the April 14, 1997 Monday Nitro episode where he jobbed to Ultimo Dragon under the name Lane Carlson. Later he changed his name to Lenny Lane, but continued to mainly be used as a jobber. He made his PPV debut at Slamboree 1998 as a participant in a battle royal for #1 contender to the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship. He got his first storyline when he started following Chris Jericho around, imitating his look and mannerism. He often helped Jericho to win or took beatings on Jericho's behalf. After they split apart, Lane began hocking a fictional health drug called "Ab Solution Plus". Lane finally got his first televised win in WCW on the October 3, 1998 WCW Saturday Night show over Lash LeRoux. Tag Team Notoriety (1999-2001) Reportedly Lane approached Lodi and noted that neither were involved in any storylines and suggested that they partner together. Inspired by "The Ambiguously Gay Duo", a Saturday Night Live cartoon sketch, Lane and Lodi adopted a theme of implied homosexuality which included pink triangles, glitter, pigtails, and blow-pops. They were named the West Hollywood Blondes as a play of the many teams called Hollywood Blonds over the years and the reputation that West Hollywood, California had a gay-friendly city. The management of WCW was initially reluctant, but booker Kevin Nash gave approval to the idea. The team was still mainly a jobber team, but were effective villains that garnered a reaction. Lane surprised everyone by pinning Rey Mysterio to win the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship on the August 19, 1999 episode of Thunder. He successfully defended the championship for 6 weeks with the help of Lodi before the WCW finally gave in to groups like GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) who claimed that the West Hollywood Blondes promoted a very negative stereotype and encourage violence towards gay people. The WCW pulled Lane & Lodi off of television and the public was told that Psicosis had won the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship at an unspecified live event. After a few months, Lane & Lodi returned dressed in business suits and called themselves Standards and Practices and were accompanied by Miss Hancock. Their gimmick was similar to and predated WWF's Right to Censor group in that they mocked influential groups like the Parent Television Council. After a couple of weeks, Lane and Idol (formerly Lodi) dropped the censorship gimmick and soon were repackaged as XS, a couple of hard rockers who loved Van Halen. However the team didn't catch on and Idol was let go. Lane had a brief losing feud with The Wall and soon was released as well. NWA: Total Nonstop Action (2002) Lane and Lodi were contracted to wrestle for NWA: TNA as the Rainbow Express. However Lodi was injured and was replaced by Bruce. They participated in the inaugural NWA World Tag Team Championship and got the finals before being defeated. They disappeared for a few months before returning in November of 2002 part of tournament to identity the #1 contender for the same NWA World Tag Team Championship. They lost in the semi-finals. In Wrestling *''Finishers'' **'Memory Lane' (Full nelson facebuster) *''Signature Moves'' **Tiger Tamer (Boston crab) **Tornado DDT *''Managers'' **Joel Gertner **Miss Hancock *''Tag Teams and Stables'' **Rainbow Connection with Bruce **West Hollywood Blondes/Standards and Practices/XS with Lodi/Idol Championships and accomplishments *'Minnesota Independent Wrestling' **MIW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'New Age Wrestling Alliance-Dallas/Fort Worth' **IHWE DFW Championship (1 time) *'Northern Premier Wrestling' **NPW Heavyweight Championship (2 times) *'Prime Time Wrestling' **PTW Heavyweight Championship (3 times) *'Steel Domain Wrestling **SDW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Texas Championship Wrestling' **TCW Tag Team Championship with Shane Helms (1 time) *'World Championship Wrestling' **WCW World Cruiserweight Championship (1 time) *'XJAM Pro Wrestling''' **XJAM Heavyweight Championship (1 time) See also *Lenny Lane's event history External links * Profile Category:American wrestlers Category:Minnesota wrestlers Category:1970 births Category:1995 debuts Category:Century Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:ECHO Pro alumni Category:Extreme Championship Wrestling alumni Category:French Lakes Wrestling Association alumni Category:Great Lakes Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Insane Hardcore Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:Insane Wrestling Federation alumni Category:Michinoku Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Pro Wrestling America alumni Category:Steel Domain Wrestling alumni Category:TNT Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Total Nonstop Action Wrestling alumni Category:World Championship Wrestling alumni Category:World Wrestling All-Stars alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:X Wrestling Federation alumni Category:Living people Category:Male wrestlers Category:American Wrestling Federation (Minnesota) alumni